TTC Shelbyville – Technical Blog

The small HP Laptop that I have can literally burn you or something.  The corner of the laptop  gets so hot (cpu exhaust) that it is uncomfortable to use even on a table.  (yes the vents are not blocked and they don’t have dust bunnies in them).

I’m looking at the Belkin Laptop cooler.  Ergonomically designed and a mid point fan that gives some distance between the laptop base and the fan for circulation.  Link for Manufacturer ($49.99)

Link at $35 dollars

In the next several weeks, we are adding Pearson Vue as a testing center.  This will greatly enhance our ability to test Cisco, CWNP and other Information Technology Certifications.

TTC Shelbyville will maintain the relationship with Prometric and continue to deliver exams through Prometric. (This will allow for Microsoft exams that are currently exclusive to Prometric.)

CompTIA exams can be delivered to either vendor.

Kate Jacobs originally posted this several months back….  The economy will get better.  Be ready, have your Goals and Objectives ready and have your resume job ready.

Job Search
www.indeed.com

Your Career Path for future employment consists of many activities: writing a resume, locating lists of potential employers, reviewing job openings, typing application letters, making contacts, interviewing, dealing with rejections, negotiating job offers, making many personal and professional decisions. Where do you start? Start with a goal, an objective. It may be helpful to ask yourself questions like: What do I want to be doing? Where do I want to be?

How Social Networks Can Kill Your Future

Your career objective is a personal statement which defines the specifics which you wish to attain with respect to your professional work.

It’s personal. Others may share similar goals, but your objective should state your goals in terms that you are comfortable with. Do Not Use Others Reponses

It’s a commitment. Stating a goal is a form of identifying who you are and what you want to achieve.

It’s action-oriented. It’s you taking control of your life and communicating what you can do and achieving realistic goals.

It’s directional. By focusing on your future, you can then identify the next step to take, which resources to seek. The more completely you examine your future, the better able you will be to evaluate potential work situations.

It’s specific. It clearly identifies some facts or elements about a work situation. Broad terms such as “successful” or “challenging” may mean something to you, but they convey no facts to an employer.

What Do You Include In A Career Objective?

Deciding what to include in a career objective is often a difficult task. This guide will review possible elements of a career objective to help you decide what to include. Remember, a career objective is personal, so deciding what to include is your decision.

Career Fields

Career Fields are general areas of work which include many different job titles that require similar kinds of work activities.

You may be considering several different job titles within a career field. Identifying the career field category allows you to specify a broad area you are interested in without limiting you to specific titles. This course has basic to more advanced computer skills. You have to realize that even if you want a job in a specific field like Computer Administration that all aspects of this course overlap and you may have to start out at one level to achieve another.

Position Titles

Position title, occupational title, or job title is the name of a specific position one holds. While some organizations may have their own reference names, most position titles are generic to many organizations.

Listing a position title on your career objective is appropriate if you know you will be applying basically for a specific position either in many different organizations or targeted for one organization.

Examples: “To obtain a position of Accountant with a public accounting firm and
eventually become a partner.”

“To become a Community Organizer where I can use my human
relations, administrative, and research skills.”

Categories of Organizations

Category of organization is really identifying the setting in which you might like to work. In the broadest sense, organizations are categorized as either service producing or goods producing. In the IT world it is mostly a “service” category. Which is good meaning alot of jobs in this field require a person present to do the work. Even though more and more help desk jobs are going overseas which I view as a “bad trend” there are still plenty on jobs to be had close at hand.

Identifying a category or industry group helps you identify specific employers within that group. In your objective, you narrow your focus and demonstrate interest in a specific setting without naming individual employers. So, your research can be more productive.

Examples:

“To work within the Cable T.V. Industry as a technical advisor.”

“To secure a position as an editor for a mid-size publishing firm.”

Skills

Skills describe your ability to perform various functions or tasks. Skills identify actions you exhibit. Skills can be identified generally or specifically.

You have probably developed many skills through academic, work, and leisure experiences. Some of your skills may cover all three areas. The same skills might be used, or transferred, to several different occupations. They are usually referred to as transferable skills. Skills identify what you can do, what actions you can perform, without limiting you to a specific career field or organizational category. Most jobs require a combination of skills. Identifying your combination lets the employer know where you might fit into the organization.

General skills are broad areas which encompass related specific skills. Identifying general skills in an objective identifies which combination of skill areas you prefer to use in your work.

Examples:
“To use my scientific and human relations skills as a Nursing Supervisor.

“To work for a government agency using my management and communica-tions skills.”

Possible skill areas that you may want to use in your work:

communications management mathematical
human relations administrative scientific
creative clerical technical
athletic mechanical artistic

Specific Skills are specific actions or behaviors used to perform tasks. Identifying specific skills in your career objective allows you to highlight your strengths or specializations within a general skill area.

Examples:

“To use my artistic skills especially doing layout, graphic design, and lettering for an advertising firm.”

“To work for a rehabilitation agency and use my group and individual counseling skills.”

Other Factors

There are other factors which can also be included in your career objective. These would include any limits, conditions, or personal criteria which would affect your work situation and which you feel are important to identify.

By identifying other factors, you can further focus your goals and communicate them to potential employers.

Examples:

“To work outdoors in a supervisory capacity for the United States Forest Service.”

“To obtain a secondary teaching position in the Southeast United States.”

“To work in law enforcement and pursue additional specialized training in forensics.”

Other factors regarding your own limits, conditions, or personal criteria for employment might include:

Geographical Area
Fringe Benefits
Training/Education
Working Conditions
Promotion/Advancement
Size of the Organization
Travel

Goals

Short-term goals are those goals you wish to achieve immediately or in a short time.

Identifying short-term goals provides a focus of where to begin your professional career. Also, they will help you identify the next step of organizing your career plath.

Examples: “To obtain an entry level position of Weather Observer.”

“To begin employment in a variety of beverage management positions which provide opportunities for advancement to a top, policy-making position with a beverage organization.”

Long-term goals are those goals you wish to achieve in a longer period of time. This worksheet you will identify your long term goal you wish to achieve soon after graduation.

Having long-term goals can be beneficial to you in several ways:

(1) Many organizations have staffing plans or forecasts regarding where they want their employees to be in the organization in the future. By having your plan, you and the employer can evaluate if there is a good match, not only with respect to where you might start, but where you may advance and in what time period.

(2) Our society is constantly changing and likewise, careers change. No doubt, as you’re working, opportunities and problems will occur. Long-term goals give you a yardstick to evaluate the situation and make appropriate decisions.

Making A Choice

As you review the above information try to include it in your career path plan. Having a complete plan will help you keep on track. But, remember you can change you career path and it need to be reasonably flexible.

For your written career path, you may wish to have different career objectives for different work situations or environments that you are considering.

How Good Is Your Career Path Plan?

To help evaluate your career path goal worksheet check to see that it is:

Personal
A Commitment
Action-Oriented
Directional
Specific

When you complete your career path plan worksheet turn it in. Make sure you have a copy for yourself. Now would be a good time to purchase a portfolio document holder. They have nice ones at Wal-Mart or OfficeMax in several styles. Find a professional one and keep your career on track with a start in being organized.

To hit a target you have to aim.

Career Path Goals
Guide sheet

Type up your answers on a separate sheet of paper

Section One

Career Field
I wish to work in the following career field. Name and describe the field you have chosen. “working with networks” is not acceptable. I want a career field that is known.

General Skill Area
I expect to use the following skills in my work. I want at least 7 skills listed. Putting “work” is not acceptable.

Position Title
I wish to be considered for the following positions. List at least three.

Specific Skills
In my work, I expect to use the following specific skills. Again list at least seven you may use “Soft Skills” too. But you must include at least 5 skills relating to your specific work.

Section Two

Short Range Goal (End of the Semester)
What conceptual, practical and hand-on skills will you gain?

The following element is important to me and I wish to have it in my first job:

Other Factors (other skills you want to achieve in your short term goal)
The following are other factors important to my career

Personal Commitment
Putting “study harder” is not acceptable. Too generic, I want specific steps.
Steps you will take to achieve your Short range goal:

Section Three

Long-Range Goal (Upon Graduation)
The following element is important to me and I wish to achieve shortly after my graduation:

Other Factors (other skills you want to achieve in your short term goal)
The following are other factors important to my career

Personal Commitment
Putting “take better notes” is not acceptable. Too generic, I want specific steps.

Steps you will take to achieve your Long range goal:

Section Four

Your Career Objective
To the best of your ability write your career objective:

If you have ever gotten the OMCI error that wants disk 1 and you have no idea what this means, check to see if you have a DELL computer.  If so go here and download this Dell program that may have KILLED your windows installer. (You can’t install anything without this installation popup!)… After downloading the program, click install and hit cancel on the OMCI error everytime it pops up…. this forces the reinstallation of the OMCI and then allows you to install what you need to install….Thanks Dell for nothing…

Willie (alias Curly Howard) and I worked on this for an hour! The Dell guys had no clue….

Cooper and Baxter recommend this for your dog.  Link

Of ourse it’s a simple idea, that is a cool way to track a lost pet.  Technology moves through all aspects of our lives.

Original Article:

Link

Well it appears someone is spoofing my email and sending spam.  The unfortunate thing about the internet is the fact that people can send bots out to find email addresses that may be posted somewhere on the web.  Once they get you they share your name among cowardly friends and the SMTP protocol will send emails from whoever they want it to be.  In fact they can send it from the irs as you can see below.  Of course it is not the real irs.

Above is a header, yep check out the ip address of who is sending
 the spam.  Now I've changed just enough of the provider
and the ip so you get the picture.  If you see an email and
your friend or co-worker sends you something that is out of
character, check the header.
(Right click or use your provider's email application to check
the source.)
You will find ip addresses in the header.  Is it theirs?
 To find out where it comes from, use www.arin.net. I'm
chasing people all over the world who have used many of our staff
and fellow schools' email addresses.

How about changing the email to a gif file or png? Well today
spammers pay people to look over a website and find email address
even if it is a picture.

So what can you do?  Take the ip to www.arin.net.  Find out who
owns it and email their abuse center.

Thought maybe this is new. .. Could catch me totally off guard and I thought maybe it had.  It is rumored that Google will have a ‘GDrive’ that is cloud computing for everyone (Making the computer obsolete).  Something is already there that meets this Cloud Computing Rumor (Fox link on Google Rumor) note that I said rumor.

I did an article on AirSet which I think is a wonderful product.  A free product that has templates for education, creates intranets and can be used just like the current RUMOR (Airset Screen Shots).  I love Google and the Googlemania will creep up on us and make us think “Hey this is new!” When it may just be something that already exsist.

Google may if the rumor is true, load this application down and it may be the next coolest thing since sliced bread.

Free Cloud Computing is Here….

Airset

Use Clean Up 4.5.2 or CCleaner or whatever….clean your computer….

Just found 88 GB of data on this computer…..

Links to get credit for your CompTIA Exams for your Microsoft MCSA

CompTIA Link

I’ve used Sun’s VirtualBox forever now.  I noticed with Windows 7 and XP if the taskbar is hidden, (Screen resolution requires scrolling) that the mouse would lose its capture.  If I scrolled down where I could see the taskbar, the mouse function is fine. hmmmmm…..

UPDATE 2/1/09

The mouse problem can also be resolved by decreasing your screen resolution to 800 x 600.

From the Virtualbox forums and thanks to Sasquatch:

I’d say, you have the GA installed and didn’t keep in mind that you have seamless mouse interaction with the VM. Disable Seamless mouse from the Machine menu to hold the mouse inside the VM. You do need to press the Host key to release the mouse though.

And for Ubuntu, check out  My Small Little Notebook Link

Just heard about the Rovio robot.  Works off wi-fi and can patrol your house as accurate as a GPS.  Auto charging with “return to base”, webcam onboard….Link

$230 -$300 to patrol your house and allows you to see everything going on thru the internet.

Probably one of the best software and hardware auditing tools I have ever seen.  Link

No setup.  Carry it on your flashdrive.

Output in text, html, pdf, csv, spreadsheet or database.

See the technology behind Airforce One on National Geographic.  Link

5/13/09 – After the initial installation of Windows 7 RC 1, I’m even further impressed.  Windows 7 seems even faster.

The first Beta Tests look promising.  Although I still like ALL operating systems. Windows XP was much faster than Vista and I never have really had problems with Vista other than transfer rates.

Link to setting up Windows 7 in Virtualbox.

Update:  After installing Windows 7 on virtualbox, I have enjoyed the os better than Vista.  ZDNet just finished an article on XP, Vista and Windows 7.  Their results are similar to ours.  Windows 7 beat Vista hands down.  The os will take some getting use to and it appears sleeker and faster.

Read the full article: Link

Lower is Better

XP  = 56
Vista = 57
Windows 7 -25.

The above rating is from the ZDNet link above (second system).  Good Article

What about Virtualbox Benchmarks?

Windows Vista  – CPU – Whetstone 12.04 GFLOPS
Memory = 3.60 GB/s
Windows 7 Beta – CPU in Virtualbox 5.72 GFLOPS [11.24 if both processors were recognized.]
Memory = 3.52 GB/s

Real World Tests – Time to Open and execute:

-MSAccess 110MB database  and running standard filter query  -
Vista 8.3 secs  Windows 7  7.9
-Adobe PDF 12Mb  open and scroll from beginning to end – 108 pages 26 full page graphics -
Vista 26 seconds  Windows 7  21 seconds/
- Internet Explorer 8 open four homepages – Standard HTML, Java, Flash and one page heavy advertising- Verizon     Wireless Broadband PCMCIA card -
Vista 29 seconds  Windows 7 26 seconds

Now take into account that Windows 7 was running on one cpu and on only 1 GB or RAM  the Vista Computer was running on two cpus and 3 GB or RAM.

The interface will take getting used to ….and the programs open much quicker than Vista and Windows XP.

UPDATE! – Check out our screenshots and video Here

Fireproof Hard Drive

Eric called and said they had 600ish computers infected by this virus.  It can spread by USB drives and propagates through your network.

Read an article here.

What it does….

copies dlls randomly in your system file, creates a web server, spreads by network shares or usb drives…. kills your computers and networks dead….

To remove, A-Squared Free  Link

Download removal tool
The information above links to a download from Symantec – W32.Downadup Removal Tool .  More information can be found here.

My wife and I share a Verizon connection.  Even though there are hundreds of homes in our area, broadband is unavailable.  This tweak did speed up Firefox (OK Jonathan, it worked)

SPEED UP FIRE FOX
Type about:config in the address bar and then press Enter
network.http.pipelining set true
network.http.proxy.pipelining set true
network.dns.disableIPv6 set true
browser.display.show_image_placeholders: False
network.http.max-connections: 48
network.http.max-connections-per-server: 32
network.http.max-connections-per-proxy: 16
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server : 32
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests: 32

Steve (with a PH) was working  on a computer that would not go into random sites.  If you check and verify the sites, java is being used.  If you go to Sun and download, reinstall or repair Java, reset internet explorer, do the hokey pokey and turn yourself around, java still refuses to work.  Do this:

Go the the run line and type:

regsvr32 wshom.ocx
regsvr32 jscript.dll
regsvr32 urlmon.dll

Pat called me during a migration yesterday and he had ran into a problem I had also ran into.  He couldn’t get a program to run in Vista.  Pat is really sharp on computers and often finds solutions I can’t find.

As you know, you can right click on a program and select compatibility mode.  He had a reporting software that would run and then suddenly close out (even in compatibility mode).  After selecting compatibility mode, he went to the security settings (NTFS file system only) and adjusted the security settings.  The program now runs.

With Vista’s security and UAC, this may be necessary.  I had a program that would open iexplorer.exe (used internet explorer).  Because of the framing in the program, you could not tell that it was using internet explorer.  After I discovered this, I loaded firefox (set it as the default program) and now my program works.

I went back, removed firefox and tried Pat’s solution this morning and ta-da, I’m now adding Pat’s solution to my list of fixes.

One of the best network scanners that has been around for some time is GFI Languard,  GFI’s Languard not only scans your network but can iventory your hardware, software and applies patches.  This software finds vulnerabilities across your network and helps you take a proactive approach to finding, fixing and preventing these vulnerabilities.